Can You Count to 43?

DS shares a June 14 birthday with my lovely grandmother, who at just over twice his age, turned ninety six days ago.

DS celebrated his birthday solo in NYC this week. BUT, he flew in last weekend for a whirlwind of activities, not the least of which included our going-away party, Reese's (early) 7th birthday party, and some grab-and-go birthday moments of his own.

A private bike tour of Amsterdam has been on my bucket list for a while now, and I really hoped if I found the right tour guide, someone who understood we'd been here for three years and wanted to dive a little deeper, it could be a fun birthday present for DS. So, I gave it a shot.

Turns out, we hit the jackpot with an amazing guide, a late twenty-something named Jasper, who started his own bike company, WE BIKE AMSTERDAM, just for this kind of thing, and we enjoyed a fab afternoon on a reluctant sunny day biking around Amsterdam.

We're standing in front of the 17th-century headquarters of the Dutch West India Company. It's obvious, but the famous Dutch East India Company went east, and the West Indies company went west. One of the latter's famous investors was Mr. Henry Hudson, who gobbled up land where???? New York. 

Hello, "Hudson" River. 

The statue is Peter Stuyvessant, governor of New York from 1647-1664 (until it was basically ceded to England). Unbelievably, he was the seventh Director-General of New Amsterdam, and he started his new job in 1647. Jeez.

And he was a pretty important dude in the early history of New York, working hard to expand the Dutch settlement beyond the tip of Manhattan Island. He is credited with "Wall Street,' which at the time was an actual wall to protect the city (and from where we get the now totally unrelated name of U.S. stock market), with the canal that became Broad Street, and with Broadway.

I've been wanting to explore examples of the Amsterdam School, an architectural style that emerged between 1910-1930 as a response to the blockish, "harsh" architecture that preceded it. The architects of this school focused on workers housing and government buildings, and the style is characterized by:

"Buildings of the Amsterdam School are characterized by brick construction with complicated masonry with a rounded or organic appearance, relatively traditional massing, and the integration of an elaborate scheme of building elements inside and out: decorative masonry, art glass, wrought ironwork, spires or "ladder" windows (with horizontal bars), and integrated architectural sculpture. The aim was to create a total architectural experience, interior and exterior."

This is a must-see example of the Amsterdam School: Het Schip (The Ship). For the very reason that from a distance it looks like a ship, in addition to many ship-like details.

Always a bit of art deco in the Amsterdam School . . . check out the address numbers.

It was such an awesome day.

We capped it off with Dutch gin at one of the oldest "brown cafes" in Amsterdam, Cafe Papeneiland (Pope Island Cafe), which was a place of secret worship for Catholics when the Protestants pushed the Spanish out and took over the city. There's even a secret tunnel that supposedly went under the canal so people could get to clandestine places of worship (I could go on and on about all of the secret churches in Amsterdam). This bar is literally right out of the Golden Age.

While I'm at it, HAPPY FATHER'S DAY to our favorite guy. We love you. We miss you.

Un enfant de Starbucks . . .

Super fun to see our worlds overlap!

http://frenchmorning.com/doug-satzman-enfant-de-starbucks-diriger-pain-quotidien-us/

News Alert!

Just like that, it's out there. 

In so many ways we feel as though we've been afforded the luxury to have had a very full, rounded-out experience during our three years in Amsterdam. While perhaps not the most profound of the examples I could cite, but maybe the most symbolic, is the fact that the first thing we did upon our arrival in Amsterdam on June 1, 2013, after flying all night, is have breakfast at Le Pain Quotidien, just down the street from our house in Oud Zuid.

My mom had flown over with us to stay the month while we got settled, DS was about to celebrate his fortieth birthday a couple of weeks later, and RS was just three years old and fell asleep at the table in his french toast. Who could have known what the future held?

We are very moved by the outpouring of congratulations and best wishes.Thanks to everyone for sharing in our excitement. As SF so sweetly blogged, "Go DS."

Bravo, husband. I'm so proud of you and excited for our family.

My Boys Rock!

Last weekend, RS and DS proved they're no couch potatoes.

DS enjoyed a personal best running the Amsterdam half marathon, beating his Paris time by TEN minutes. 1:47!  Really incredible progress in just one year of running. We're all super proud of him.

Meanwhile, RS grabbed his football kit from this summer's AJAX camp, and participated in an intensive one-day clinic last weekend. This clinic is all business, no goofing around. RS was quite happy to see he had the same coach again, and that there was at least one furry newcomer. Proud of your commitment and enthusiasm RS!  You're my fancy feet.

Mud Honey

Mud honey.

D'oh. I mean, Mud Master.

DS ran a crazy 12km run through the mud last Sunday, which seemed to involve more climbing and hanging and swimming through the mire than actually running in it.  So impressive.

This is SO not my thing!  DS asked me to be his partner, but I kind of thought NFW!

Way to go DS.

Next up for DS:  Amsterdam Half Marathon on October 18 . . .

If you're at all interested in the near-if not-actual electrocution, drowning, and cutting aspects of this race, definitely check out the after-movie!

https://www.facebook.com/mudmastersnl/videos/vb.291504114239728/967417759981690/?type=2&theater

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving!  Miss you and you and you and you  . . . 

It's strange to celebrate Thanksgiving abroad.  It's my absolute favorite holiday (what's not to love about the BIG 3 of Food, Family and Friends), and I'm grateful that we will be spending it with good friends on Saturday (even if my heart pitter patters for the familiarity of home).

My list of things I'm grateful for is too long to spell out here (and boy do I mean that), so I'll stick to the top and most immediate.

First, I've had the grand pleasure of watching Peanuts with Abigail and Reese over the past couple of weeks.  It started with "It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown," just before we left for the US, which of course was followed by "A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving."  When the latter sparked belly laughs from both my kids (Snoopy and Woodstock are actually pretty funny), we bought a whole series of them on our Apple TV.  Since then, the kids and I have been binge watching Peanuts, a childhood relic of mine.  They were intrigued with the same parts, like how the teacher talks in that funny voice.  Hard to have envisioned this day, when my babies are old enough to appreciate Charlie Brown and the gang.  And young enough too.  Thanks, Abby and Reese, for sharing this with me.

Secondly, it goes without saying how thankful we are for Doug. 

But maybe I'll say something.  His journey to Rwanda is inspiring.  It's hard to plug into a country and its needs, and to find a productive place as a solo volunteer.  Doug found some amazing organizations and people to connect with, and his time has been productive and rewarding.

Everyday we miss him, and while certainly there are days when I'm mad and frustrated that he's not here, the truth is I look at his twitter post from today and recognize how happy and thankful I am that my husband chose to do this with his time off from work.  xxxx

Here are some of Doug's words from text messages he sent me earlier in the week.

"I had an amazing day.  Really learning so much about people.  human nature and real problems (officially 3rd world).  So many don't complain, stay optimistic and grateful for what they have.  I have listened to several unbelievable stories in private settings that really provide a view into the human spirit."

 "Didn't mean to disappear.  Was planning to catch up with you tonight, but ended up in a deep conversation with a Hutu on private perspective of genocide.  after earlier learning private perspective from Tutsi earlier today. Both heart wrenching.  Truly amazing journey that this country has been on.  So difficult and so inspiring."

Abby and Reese stocked Doug up with some of their toys to give away in Rwanda.  The toys had to be small to fit in his suitcase, but the process of giving something up to help someone else was really rewarding for them when they saw these photos today (taken from a "Reconciliation Village" implemented after the Genocide, and something I'll follow up on later). Truly the spirit of Thanksgiving.  To think outside ourselves.  

Very proud of our little sprouts (quote from Doug's text).

 May we all carry a smile.  Happy Thanksgiving!

Gorillas in the Mist

There's so much to catch up on with Doug's trip to Rwanda. It has been an amazing and rewarding experience for Doug so far.  He'd love to be able share all of it directly, but for now I'll get it out there while he stays "in the moment."  Most of his time and work has centered on youth and/or business coaching, and I promise to pass along some of these moving and inspiring stories and pictures very soon.

But I couldn't wait to share these photos of Doug in the Virunga mountains of Rwanda, where Dian Fossey conducted her research on the Karisoke area gorillas.  This is one of a few wildlife excursion/eco-tourism outings that he's doing when not working. I thought he'd gotten this out of his system early this year, after cage diving with sharks.

Dian Fossey was controversial, and in fact murdered in 1985. But her efforts to protect gorillas from poaching and conserve their habitat still go strong today, despite the interruption of the Rwandan Genocide during the 90's, which destroyed much of this gorilla mountain area.  The movie "Gorillas in the Mist" depicts her story.

These are just the pictures from Doug's phone. Can't imagine what the good camera picked up.

Hotel Rwanda

And he's off!!

Doug departed for Rwanda five days ago to begin a month-long solo volunteer trip.  It's a country for which he has great affection; one where he's always hoped to spend more time with the people and to contribute in way that is meaningful on the ground. It's an opportunity that came up recently as a result of some professional changes that I wrote about back in September. 

Of course Abby, Reese, and I will miss him greatly, but we're also excited for Doug and the valuable ways in which he can share this experience our kids.

However, I'm not sure we thought it meant lounging by the pool with this amazing view!

We like to give him trouble, but Doug has worked tirelessly in the past few months to connect with various organizations and plug into existing aid and humanitarian projects.  The hotel pictured above is Hotel Rwanda, made famous in the mid-90's when the hotelier tried to hide and save fellow citizens in the hotel during the Rwandan Genocide when approximately 1 million people were killed during a 100-day period.  If you've never seen the 2004 movie depicting these events, it is well worth the watch.  Here's the link:  Hotel Rwanda.

Doug stayed at Hotel Rwanda for his first few days before finding a bedroom in a group house in the capital city of Kigali, which he will be his home base over the next few weeks.

We get a lot of questions about Ebola in this area of Africa, and certainly we are not cavalier about the risks. 

But, as you can see from this map, Rwanda is on the other side of the continent from West Africa, the area of acute outbreak.

Below are some photos from Doug's first trip to Rwanda about two years ago.  During the trip, Doug's team visited coffee farms that supply coffee to Starbucks and built a medical clinic in the village.

Bubbles.  Simple, but a real treat for these kids.

Doug visited during the 20th anniversary of the Genocide: